Father & Son restoration of a 1957 Starcraft 14' Ski-Champ

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57 Ski-Champ

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Hello fellow classic boat restoration enthusiasts, I just joined the forum today. My Son and I just purchased a 1957 StarCraft 14' Ski-Champ and are setting out to completely restore it to it's original state. Upon my first inspection and survey of this craft it was clear that it was 95% original and this was encouraging to me, this was a very good find and the boat had been stored well. As you will see from the five photos I am sharing it is missing the original windshield (someone crafted one out of oak), also missing is the Bow Light, I'm not sure if the Steering Wheel is original, a transom handle is missing and I have a concern over the Bow Cap as it has no stars on it, additionally it has two light sockets at the stern with two tall running or anchor lights (still need to figure this out as why "two anchor lights" is pecular to me). I intend on sharing the restoration with all of you here on the iboats forum and welcome your comments and help with this project. I read up on a young man's exact same make, model and year restoration here on the forum and he did an outstanding job. I look forward to befriending him and speaking with him. I will be looking to you for resources in hopes of obtaining the original parts I will be needing to complete our restoration. Looking forward to getting started...
1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg
 

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jbcurt00

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IIRC, the bow cap should have lines in it, 1/4-3/8in spacing, running fore and aft, not a star, can't tell from the 1st pix.

Steering wheel center cap and spokes look like what might have come on it in 57, again hard to tell from the pix. The steering wheel wrap isn't original.

The windshield would have been a bubble style that bowed in both directions:
Skichampweek27006.jpg


If you haven't dug into the topics in the Starcraft forum, you've got lots more reading to do. Great info about tin boat rehab:
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owners-groups-by-manufacturer/s/starcraft-boats

Were you referring to wrfalpacas' 57 SkiChamp topic:
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owne...s/408885-1957-starcraft-ski-champ-restoration

I looked thru his ^^^ topic again, and his does have 2 stars on the bow end cap. I'm pretty sure the last 2 late 50's SC I saw pix of, had the lines I discribed above, not stars. Different years or models perhaps.....

They are twin stern anchor lights. This will help w/ boat terms:
lights.gif

01_Boating_Terms.jpg


You can probably find a decent bow light on ebay. Lots to choose from. FYI, it will likely be more then $350 to get a modest sized bow light re-chromed. They were likely put on by the dealer, not Starcraft, so it could have been any one of several brands of light. If there's a maker's name on the twin stern lights, the bow light was most likely the same, if the twin stern lights are original.

Welcome to iboats, tin dry dock. Awesome boat for a project. You should have no problem locating a period outboard to hang out back.
 

57 Ski-Champ

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Thank you for the information you have shared. Yes this is the boat restoration I was writing about, wrfalpacas did a very nice job with his 1957. My boat is the exact same boat as his, I will take a picture of the ID placard on the transom next. Right now I'm working on getting it out of the Northeast where I found it back to Tennessee where my Son and I will restore it. As I proceed I will be sharing more pictures, these five are just the initial ones I took when I first found it. Additionally thank you for the link to the StarCraft forum, I did not know about it, great place for me to go. I will try to move my string to it.
 
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jbcurt00

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I deleted the 2nd topic in the SC forum

If you want to document the build there, I'll move this over there for you. No need to start a 2nd topic.

Just confirm you want it moved.

Here is OK too. But moved to the SC forum is fine too
 

57 Ski-Champ

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If you could move my string over to the Starcraft page I would appreciate it, I could not figure out a way to do that myself. I think my Son and I will benefit from connecting with a Starcraft specific audience. We possess the industrial arts skills to restore our boat but the fellow Starcraft enthusiasts and resources they have will be very helpful. Thank you for your anticipated help with this move.
 
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jbcurt00

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Moved.

Your welcome, our forum software doesnt let you move stuff around yourself. FYI the edit feature is only available for a short time after you make a post. If you need to edit something, a mod will have to make those changes for you.
 

classiccat

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:welcome: to the SC corner of the playground! Great project you have there! :thumb: Lookin' forward to seeing it brought back to its original glory!
 

Watermann

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Welcome aboard,

Those little Champs are a rare find. :thumb: Looking forward to seeing her made better than new and on the waves once again!
 

dozerII

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Welcome to the Starmada, great looking project Starcraft you found.
 

57 Ski-Champ

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Made it down to Tennessee from New Hampshire with the 1957 Ski-Champ in tow on its new trailer with no issues. Over the past two weeks my Son and I have slowly been able to remove all of the aluminum skins from its topsides, this was quite a task in itself as many of the fasteners were original and corroded in place. We had to meticulously drill out the heads on many of them so we would not damage the skins. Upon peeling off the skins we found exactly what we expected to find, lots of dry rotted wood and a mouse nest deep inside of the flotation foam up in the bow.
 

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jbcurt00

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And so it begins

Enjoy the process and keep us up to date. Where abouts in Tennessee?

I meet a vintage tin boat group twice a year outside Knoxville. Feathercrafts. But occasionally other makes show up. Theres a dry meet w the AOMCI outboard guys and the tin fellas do 6 or 7 cruises over a 5 or 6 day period ending w a long Clinch river run on Sun. In Sept the most tin boats cruising all together was 14 I think.
 

laklvng7

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Welcome aboard!!! What an awesome boat!!! Has lots of potential!!!
 

Joe L. Bachs

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Great boat, I'm in the process of restoring a 57 Ski Champ myself that I picked up this summer. Your steering wheel looks like mine so it could be original, mine only has one nav. light on the back though. I just saw a old windshield for sale in CT that would probably work on you starcraft, it was on craigslist for $50... I almost picked it up as a spare.
 

ssdale

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I believe your bow cap is original. Somebody thought it was cool looking to have the two stern lights and I agree with them. Put a pennant on both of them and you'll look like your flying!
 

57 Ski-Champ

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We lost a few months working on our Ski-Champ restoration due to being away on an extended assignment but were back at it this weekend. We managed to completely gut the hull this weekend. We're back from the car wash after giving it a good washing and prepping her now for the soda blaster.
 

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Joe L. Bachs

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Was just re-readeing this thread and noticed the bow cap discussion and figured I'd chime in. My 57 ski-champ has the 2 star bow cap like the one on WRF's S-C. Could be they a used couple different variations? Cool to see you're making good progress with it.
 
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gm280

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57 ski-Champ, nothing better then to start with a completely clean slate. The gutting out of the hull was the first idea as I see it. Good job. :thumb:
 

Watermann

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Good to see you back at it! As spring draws closer the urge gets stronger to work on the boat. I know I'm already there and had to yank my SN out of the snow bank. :lol:
 
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